News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-02-10
A STRANGE STORY.
The Remarkable Cas- OF Arthur FOxen who
Was TO Have Been Hanged for Murder.

l doub if the records of crime furnish
more curious case than that of Arth II
Foxen. 1t occurred twenty-five years
ago, and ] do not wish at this late day
to revive 1t to the modification of rela-
tIves who were in no wise to blame for
his wild career. | will therefore not
name the State Ill which the singular
events were enacted, though many
readers viii name it for themselves.
had been sheriff of - county about
SIX months when one morning, an hour
before daylight, q farmer rode up to the
jail residence and aroused me with the
information that a murder had been
committed at a farm house about six
miles away. In fifteen minutes | was
ready to return with him. The neigh
borhOod in which the murder occurred
could be approached by two different
roads from the county seat, and as l
wanted to stop at the house of one
of my dupuues we took the other
road from which the farmer had come.
We were three miles from the scene of
murder, and were riding at a gallop
when man in the road ahead of US on
horseback ffaag- himself TO tie asauld |
eli nbed the roadside fence, and made a
run across a wide meadow toward a
piece of woods.
OF course the action aroused our sus-
picions. / was armed while the far
mer was not. l left him to care for the
three horses, and was in chase of the
man before he had passed from sight.
He was not swift runner, while was a
fair one. | began to gain on him at
once, and he was hardly half way across
the meadow when he heard me so close
behind that he halted, wheeled around
and fired at me with a single barrelled
bulldog pistol carrying a bullet almost
large enough for a musket. | was not
over twelve feet distant. but he missed
his target. l had come to a halt and
had my revolver in hand, but did not
like to FIRE upon him In return. When
he saw that | was untouched by his
bullet he flung the empty pistol at my
head, drew a murderous looking knife
and called out that he would not be
taken alive. l went within six feet of
him and demanded his surrender, but he
made rush at me, and was compelled
TO fire at him in self-defence. The bull
let struck his right wrist and passed
through it, and he dropped his knife
and staggered like one shot in the body.
= D,
without waiting TO discover how serious
ly he was wounded, | bore him down
and put on the handouts. As soon as
he recovered from the shock he struggled
fercely, and INDUCED in such cursing
and vituperatiOu as l had never heard
The farmer soon came to my assistance,
and later on two other farmers and the
deputy appeared. l OF course had no
idea who the fellow was, nor what
Offense, if any. he had committed. i
handed him over to the others to be
taken to Jail, and then rode rapidly to
the farmhouse in which the murder had
been committed. By this time it was
daylight, and dozen or more persons
had gathered. The farm was owned
and the house occupied by an aged
uple named Stevens. They were we'll
to do and always had more OF less cash
in the house. Stevens had a hired man
who lived with his own family on a
piece of land half a mile away. The
family had hired girl, who, of course,
slept IN the house, but her room was up
stairs, while the farmer and wife occu-
pied bedroom on the ground floor. The |
story told by Mrs. Stevens was as fol-
lows: She had been awakened about
q o clock by a noise in the room, and
as she sat up in bed she saw a dark
lantern On the bureau, and a man search
ing the drawers. He turned toward her
and she screamed out. her voice awoke
her husband, and he was getting out of
bed when the intruder rushed at him
and stabbed him twice with knife-the
same he had threatened me with. The
husband fell back to die almost instantly,
and the wife was so overcome with ter
Tor that she could not remember wha
happened in the next five minutes. When
she came to, the hired girl was standing
over her bed with light in her hand.
The story of the hired girl was clear,
concise. and to the point. The midnight
intruder entered the house by climbing
up a shed roof and entering the girls
window 1t was summer and the win
dow was raised. The slight noise he
made creeping up the shingles awoke
her, and she not only got pretty good
view, of his face and figure, but made
out that he was slightly lame. He came
and stood over her and flashed his light
in her eyes, and then descended to the
lower part of the house. He had Sc
cured and pOcketed $50 in cash and some
jewelry when Mrs. Stevens awoke. | had
an idea from the start that we had cap
cured the right man in the meadow. |
took the girl and drove to the jail, and
she identified him. He ad been
searched aud the proceeds of his crime
discovered on his person. In brief the
case against him was as clear as noon
day, and by good luck had him behind
the bars.
do not contend that there was any
thing strange in the foregoing. 1t was
only after he had been convicted and
sentenced to be hanged that strange
pha es began to crop out. He had care
fully concealed his identity. He had
given the name of Arthur Foxen, but we
did not believe it to be his right one. He
refused to give his residence or the name
of his parents, and detied us to ind out
During his trial woman named New
hal of Cincinnati saw and identified him
o. her son, A week lassF a man and